So I’m filling out the paperwork needed for temporary guardianship of my twenty year-old ( he does not know this). The status will remain active for sixty days, during which time I need to get the process going for permanent guardianship, for which I’m already taking the necessary steps.
Question: From experience, and in retrospect, is there a course of action which seems to have worked for some of you ( those having assumed guardianship and otherwise)?
I live in Colorado and my son is very ill. He refuses to shower (paranoid of chemicals in the water), self medicates with pot daily if he can, and will not take medication. He has been hospitalized twice and I think he is just beginning to think he may have schizophrenia. We share computers and I see open pages on the subject. He was diagnosed last April. Please ask me any other questions if it will help and I appreciate any suggestions.
I hope other people can add their own thoughts and experiences. I don’t have experience with this issue, but just wanted to share these resources with you:
Hi Holly67! Well I was a temporary LPS conservator for my son a few times and got him on conservator through the hospital…My son kept going in and out of hospitals throughout the years and kept getting off meds as soon as discharged from long term care. I think it helped me place my son in Long term care a few times or take him out of long term care. I felt like I had to put my son in long term care because he kept getting off his meds once he got out of hospital and to keep him on meds because he would become gravely disabled or to keep him safe( jumped off bridge a few years ago )…I did not continue with the LPS guardianship since he has been living with me and staying on meds while living at home for almost a year in Dec.
I think he was 22…He is 24 right now and was on conservatorship till last April… . While he was hospitalized the social worker/ doctor asked me if I wanted to be conservator because he was in and out of hospital several times . He will be 25 in Nov. and for now everything is ok…Last month my son did wake me up and said he is not taking meds anymore and threw all his meds away in trash and decided few hrs. later to continue his meds because he did not feel well…So I hope he just continues his meds for awhile… Living on hope!
Holly67, from experience and in retrospect, when we obtained guardianship of our twenty year old son, we were honest with him during the process. There are not that many extra things a person can do with guardianship except talk to doctors and other professionals (huge) and be informed of treatment decisions. We have not attempted to take away any rights, nor do we “force” any type of treatment, including medication, though we did sign him into the hospital to avoid involuntary commitment.
If things had become contentious or difficult, I would have had to base going forward on how that would effect our relationship. Also, I did not know how stigmatizing and demeaning the legal language of the guardianship is. The language is hurtful and disrespectful; that might be another reason to be circumspect.
As a parent, I have always THOUGHT I was trying to support my son. I don’t know how much or whether I have, but it could be positive to have the guardianship if a person is very ill for a long time because there is legal obligation to care for the person that extends past the lifespans (or ability to be caregivers) of the parents.
Guardianship can be dissolved if/ when no longer necessary.
Yes, the course for us was treatment. That is why I filed a guardianship. My son was going through a period where he would run to his dads because his dad would agree he didn’t need anything. I will spare you all of the details, but my son was hospitalized 4 times a year due to becoming dangerous to himself, and was living a nightmare, as was I living with him. he wasn’t going to make it. His illness worsened over the course, started at 19 and was 22 at this time. I filed guardianship when he stayed with his dad for a short time, usually a few days to weeks. When the emergency guardianship was a go, I told him he couldn’t come home until he went and took the injection he come off of previously. Actually, that is why he went to his dads. The police were involved often to get him to the hospital, so he was running from me, and the treatment. He gained enough insight once back on that injection that he has been medicated since that time, for two years. It saved his life. He has still been in the hospital but not near as often and he admits himself too. One thing that helps is to let them know there is help, it doesn’t have to be this way. Explain the chemical imbalance that makes him feel bad, find one symptom that he recognizes and complains about. For mine, it was depression. My son didn’t recognize many symptoms as the illness.